CdM boys’ tennis advances to quarterfinals rematch against Peninsula

Corona del Mar High’s run to a CIF State Southern California Regionals title last year continues to be a guiding star for this year’s boys’ tennis team.

The Sea Kings returned nine of 13 players from last year’s championship team, and with their latest win, they are perhaps one win away from getting an opportunity to defend it.

A clean sweep of the nine doubles matches spurred the Sea Kings to a 15-3 victory over Cypress in a CIF Southern Section Division 1 second-round match at Corona del Mar High.

Standing in the way of a potential Regionals berth is a date with the very team that CdM knocked off in the final last season. That would be top-seeded Rolling Hills Estates Peninsula, in a quarterfinals matchup that will be hosted by the Sea Kings on Monday.

“They have a really good, stacked team, which is going to be hard to beat, but if we can all contribute one or two matches, I think that we can pull it off,” Diego Fernandez del Valle said.

Fernandez del Valle conceded just one game in sweeping his singles matches on Friday. The junior is the younger brother of Pedro Fernandez del Valle, who has continued his playing career in college at the University of Denver.

Playing under Cal signee Bjorn Hoffmann and his older brother was a beneficial experience for Fernandez del Valle, and the same applies to current Sea Kings No. 1 Kyle Pham.

Pham and Fernandez del Valle made up the bottom half of the Sea Kings singles lineup during their championship showing in the Regionals. Neither suffered defeat in the four matches during the tournament.

“That gave them a lot of confidence, and then they’ve stepped up this year as our top two guys,” Sea Kings coach Jamie Gresh said. “They’ve had a bunch of wins and some losses, too.”

“They’re gaining experience as it comes. Kyle is a sophomore. Diego is a junior. Singles really performed well today.”

Corona del Mar took a 5-1 lead in Friday’s match after the first round. A 6-0 win by Fernandez del Valle at No. 2 singles cancelled out the 6-0 decision posted by Cypress’ Christopher Papa in the No. 3 singles match.

Lopsided wins were also had by the No. 2 doubles team of Jacob Cooper and Ryan Wessler (6-1), as was the case with the Sea Kings’ No. 3 doubles team of Grant Brown and Luke Muradliyan (6-2).

The Sea Kings built their lead behind a pair of close wins in the top first-round matchups. Pham defeated Cypress’ Adam Pham by a break, 6-3.

In the No. 1 doubles set, Johnathan Hart and Matthew Paulsen pulled off back-to-back breaks of serve to defeat the Centurions’ top pair of Andres Roa and Kyle Gorgonio.

Roa dug out of a love-30 hole in the decisive game, but an expensive miss at the net by Gorgonio handed the Sea Kings a match point, which they converted.

“It really helps going up 5-1,” Paulsen said. “If it had been 3-3, they would have gotten riled up and we would have gotten riled up.”

Hart and Paulsen ran the table, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. Paulsen, a senior, said that his partner’s length simplifies the game.

“I hit a good shot, and he’s just at the net ready to take anything,” Paulsen said of Hart. “His wingspan is like the entire court, so that really helps.”

Cooper and Wessler swept the opposition, 6-3, 6-1, 6-2. Trenton Rhodes joined Brown for a 6-1 victory in the third round.

The second round was closed out by close matches, too. John Dick earned a match-clinching victory against Jin Seok Lee, consolidating his break at 5-5 to win the set, 7-5.

This was Cypress’ first time in the Division 1 bracket. The Centurions had advanced to three consecutive CIF-SS championship matches in Division 3, the first such appearances in program history. They won their first title in 2016, defeating Placentia Valencia, 10-8.

Papa notched a pair of singles victories for Cypress, defeating Kyle Pham, 7-6 (5) in the second round. Adam Pham secured the Centurions’ other win with a 6-4 win over Dick in the third round.

CIF-SS Division 1 Playoffs

Corona del Mar 15, Cypress 3

Singles: K. Pham (CdM) def. A. Pham (Cyp) 6-3, def. Maligalig (Cyp-sub) 6-0, lost to Papa (Cyp) 6-7 (5); D. del Valle (CdM) 6-0, def. J. Lee (Cyp) 6-0, def. Qian (Cyp-sub); J. Dick (CdM) 4-6, 7-5, 0-6

Doubles: Hart/Paulsen (CdM) def. Roa/Gorgonio (Cyp) 6-4, def. S. Lee/T. Son (Cyp) 6-3, def. B. Lee/Ga (Cyp) 6-4; Cooper/Wessler (CdM) 6-3, 6-1, 6-2; Brown/Rhodes (CdM-sub) 6-1, Brown/Muradliyan (CdM) 6-4, 6-2.

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